This invention relates to tubular casings, especially such casings as are used for encasing food products such as meats and cheeses. The invention more particularly relates to tubular casings which comprise regenerated cellulose or collagen and to splices made in such casings either to connect casing sections or to close openings made in the casings during processing.
In the prior art, during manufacture, casings were sometimes slit to permit accumulated liquids and gases to escape from the interior. These slits then needed to be sealed to retain inflation by air for the purposes of curing. In the absence of air, the casing would deflate and create problems with self adhesion and irregular dry diameters. The slits were frequently sealed by removing the slit section of the casing and inserting couplers into the resulting open ends of the casing prior to entry of casing into the dryer. The couplers were removed after the dryer and the openings were sealed with splicing tape.
Before the present invention using tape to seal the open ends together was considered difficult, if not impossible, due to the fact that it is exceedingly difficult to get glue to adhere to a wet substrate such as an undried gel used in casing manufacture and in any case forming such splices upon wet casing material could not be done automatically.